Sunday, March 1, 2009

"And they call it a mine. A mine!"

While we were braving blizzards in Forochel, the dwarves had been setting up bases inside Moria and making it a bit more hospitable. So with legendary weapons in hand, we decided it was time.

While we've spent several play sessions in Moria already, we've only seen a very small fraction of the place. My feelings are a bit mixed at this point. Visually, it's an impressive place to see. And aggressive mob placement is reasonable so that you're not constantly having to fight just to take a few steps. But getting around has been a challenge. There are steps and ramps in all directions. While you might see your quest objective in the distance, good luck figuring out how to get there. We've wasted quite a bit of time just running in circles and not getting anywhere.


One quest hub in particular, which contains the npc's needed for upgrading legendary weapons, has been a hot bed of player activity. The zone in general is pretty crowded with players, some not always on their best behavior. And it's a bit laggy. But overall, it's been a neat experience and definitely something different than anything I've ever seen before. I think if we can get a better handle on the zone layout, we won't be quite so frustrated.

In other news, I finally maxed my Rivendell faction. This is the only faction I've bothered with since I was able to gain faction by turning in scholar-created items. I wanted Rivendell faction purely for cosmetic reasons. I was able to purchase an elven dress, along with a couple statues to place outside my home and a map table for the inside. Yes, I like my fluff.

4 comments:

Yeebo said...

Glad you finally made it. For me the mines were a tough transition.

Due to the layout of the zones (particularly the great delving) the map only has some of the info you need to figure out how to get some place. You actually have to memorize landmarks (take this flight of stairs, down...or you can only cross the chasm here..ect.) to get around. I found it frustrating at first, but now that I've learned my way around a bit I actually think it's kind of cool.

The first week or two I was in the mines were certainly equal parts wonder and frustration. I refused help from any of my kinmates until I learned my way around on my own. I got lost and found some crazy stuff several times while questing. If you are mainly working the great delving, most of the cool stuff is still in front of you (imo).

Thallian said...

hmmm maybe my hunter needs to max out rivendell rep too, she could use a dress like that :) I like the mines but its taken a little while for them to grow on me. I still want to have a mount but that's ok, the taxi service works well enough for now.

Aspendawn said...

Oh I'm anxious to see what's beyond great delving now, if the cool stuff is still yet to come.

You know I still don't have any sort of mount, let alone the Moria version. When I played my minstrel a couple years back, I tried doing the horse quest and never could complete it. I'm terribly uncoordinated in MMO's when it involves jumping. My husband actually ended up doing it for me. I couldn't even do my level 35 captain quest back then because I couldn't manage to jump across a ramp I needed to go to.

So this time around, I just decided to save myself the embarrassment of even trying and do without. I used to always get knocked off the darn thing anyway and with hubby's runspeed buff, it just didn't seem worthwhile to waste the money.

Yeebo said...

If you really want a Moria mount, getting your faction up with the Moria Miners will allow you to buy one. No riding exams necessary as far as I know. If you do go this route, however, I would wait until you are kindred with the miners. The Kindred goat is as fast as a horse and only costs about a gold more than the one you can get at friend rep level.

I personally can barely keep from falling to my doom off ledges just with a run speed buff. I think there would be a lot of tragedies in my future if I were flying around down there at horse speeds.